


family, history; friends new and deer

by adrianicsea



Series: rewards [2]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone Is Gay, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Original Character(s), Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 19:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12733287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrianicsea/pseuds/adrianicsea
Summary: When Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia, they find their brother married to King Caspian. Edmund isn't sure how he feels about that, but at least he's made a new friend.





	family, history; friends new and deer

**Author's Note:**

> This piece and Lucy's piece are meant to be two-parters that, together, retell and fix the entirety of Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I don't think it's any secret that I dislike both the movie's and the book's ways of handling the story, so my version of events lies somewhere in the middle. As with the other works in this series, I was inspired much more heavily by the film version of the characters than anything else.
> 
> Also, let me apologize for mis-tagging the earlier fic and then leaving it that way for so long! It was posted very late at night, and it's been a long time since I've written a series, so I completely blanked on how tagging for series works. The erroneous tags on that work have been removed, and I won't make that mistake again in the future!
> 
> Once again, I'd also like to reiterate that all the characters involved are going to end up in age-appropriate romances, with age-appropriate writing. If you came here as an adult looking for smut about fifteen-year-olds, kindly remove yourself from this fic and then fuck off and die.
> 
> One final note-- in conceptualizing Odoko, I used Ezra Miller as a faceclaim. Just in case you'd like to know who to imagine.

The next time Edmund saw his brother, it had been one year of his time and three of Peter’s.

Once Peter and Caspian finished drying the three of them off (and Peter finished patiently explaining to Eustace that no, he _wasn’t_ kidnapped and murdered, he simply chose to stay and live in Narnia), Peter came over to smother his siblings in a huge, crushing hug.

“I’ve missed both of you so much,” Peter whispered.

Lucy sobbed aloud, and though Edmund would never admit to it, his found tears in his eyes, too.

#

After they’d all been cleaned up and changed into Narnian clothes, Eustace went for a sulk around the deck, while Peter led Edmund and Lucy belowdecks to Caspian’s quarters. Caspian himself was nowhere to be seen—probably, Edmund thought, he wanted to give the three of them some time alone.

As Peter reclined in the captain’s chair, he asked, “Tell me, how old are you now?”

“Some loving brother you are, forgetting our ages!” Lucy teased, and she reached over to poke Peter in the ribs. “I’m thirteen.”

“Fifteen,” Edmund answered with a small, proud smile. “And yourself, Pete?”

“I turned twenty just last month,” Peter said. He squinted then and looked them up and down, first Lucy and then Edmund.

“By the Mane, Ed, are you _really_ already fifteen? You look so grown-up since I saw you last!” Peter gave Edmund a bright smile. “I swear, at this rate you might end up taller than me after all.”

Edmund laughed at that, but he knew Peter was just being nice. Not a day in England went by without Edmund feeling the sting of his birth, in his heart as well as in the bandages around his chest. He felt each day the same pang of jealousy as he watched the other boys in his class grow taller and stronger while he stayed just the same, short and lanky and cherub-faced. He thought all the time of his old adulthood in Narnia; even magic couldn’t fix everything, but he had grown taller then, stronger and deeper of voice than he could ever hope to in England.

Edmund had taken it the hardest when they’d fallen out of the wardrobe and those fifteen wonderful years fell away in an instant. And, even though Peter hadn’t been there to see it, he had taken it the hardest last year when Peter was chosen to stay in Narnia while the rest of them were cast out once again, too. Even now, he couldn’t help but hold it against Peter just a little. Peter the golden child, Peter who got everything Edmund wanted, Peter the “only son” of the Pevensies—

Peter with a man who loved him, and who he loved in return. Edmund had noticed Peter and Caspian’s rings right away, even though Peter hadn’t mentioned anything to them about it yet.

Still, Edmund knew from experience, it didn’t do to dwell on being bitter when there was nothing one could do to change things. And he _was_ happy for Peter more than anything else—perhaps more than any of them, Peter had always been the one who was most suited to life in Narnia. The wide smile and golden tan he sported now were certainly proof of that. If Edmund squinted and really concentrated, he could see that Peter was starting again to resemble the man he had been all those years ago.

Peter threw back his head and laughed at some joke Lucy had just told him, and even though Edmund missed the punchline, he joined in the laughter, too.

For now, at least, he was in Narnia. That alone was worth a lot.

* * *

 

As was always the case in Narnia, they found adventure sooner rather than later. Or, rather, adventure found them, in the form of an underground slavers’ cartel in the Lone Islands.

Edmund put on a brave face as they were tossed and turned in the ship’s cargo hold, probably headed for the auction block in Narrowhaven. He _was_ scared of what might happen to him, of course, but Lucy and Eustace looked absolutely terrified—they needed someone to look tough and brave for them.

Peter was right there next to him, but in the past year, Edmund had gotten used to being the eldest brother. It nearly caught Edmund by surprise, then, when Peter spoke up.

“Everything will be alright,” Peter promised, locking eyes with Eustace and giving him a little smile. Edmund recognized Peter’s tone as the same one he’d used to calm Edmund down when they were children and Edmund had been scared by a sudden clap of thunder.

“If I know Caspian, he won’t let us stay here much longer.”

Edmund glanced at Peter’s ring and huffed under his breath, rolling his eyes for good measure. Who did Peter think he was fooling? Edmund couldn’t believe Lucy and Eustace—well, mostly Lucy—hadn’t caught on yet.

“Even if Caspian doesn’t rescue us, sire,” Reepicheep piped up, “I certainly will.”

The Mouse leaned forward, his tail twitching as he lowered his voice to a whisper.

“I’ve been working on pulling a splinter out of this plank the whole time we’ve been in here,” Reepicheep continued. “As soon as I have it, I’ll be armed, and then I’ll save all of us and Caspian too.”

Eustace didn’t seem comforted by that, but Edmund and Lucy exchanged amused glances as Peter gave Reepicheep a patient and encouraging smile.

“That’s brilliant, Reep,” he said.

* * *

 

It took a full day’s journey and half the night before they finally arrived at Narrowhaven, and when they did, Edmund found that Peter was right after all.

Instead of being met by more slavers, as their captor seemed to have expected, their cart was greeted at the city gates by Caspian and several members of the _Dawn Treader’s_ crew, along with a distinguished, older-looking gentleman—it took Edmund a second to recognize him as the man who had bought Caspian the day before.

“Excuse me, sir,” Caspian said, giving the slaver a wide grin. “I believe you have stolen something that belongs to me.”

As the slaver stammered and tried to make an excuse for himself, Edmund breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. He looked around the cart to find that everyone else looked just as relieved as he feels—except for Reepicheep, who was no doubt indignant that his splinter plan had failed earlier, and Peter, whose cheeks looked suspiciously pink. (In that second, Edmund hoped that, should he ever fall in love, he wasn’t as absolutely _awful_ about it as Peter was.)

There was no battle; once Drinian and his crewmen surrounded the cart, the slaver surrendered without any further struggle. While Drinian led him away to the Narrowhaven prison, Caspian bounded into the cart and quickly freed them all--starting with Peter, of course. Edmund sighed again, this time in exasperation.

Once everyone had piled out of the cart and been checked over for injuries, Peter asked, “So how did you--?”

Apparently, he didn’t even need to finish his question, because Caspian answered right away.

“This is Lord Bern, one of the Seven Lords we have been searching for!” he exclaims, gesturing to the gentleman next to him. “He bought me because he recognized me for who I am, and we came up with a plan to destroy the slave trade at its source. That being said…”

Caspian gestured again to Lord Bern, more formal this time. When next he spoke, Edmund recognized it as the voice of a king.

“Allow me to introduce all of you to the newly-named Duke of the Lone Islands, Lord Bern, installed by myself, Star King Caspian the Tenth of Narnia. He will be a good and just ruler and will make the Lone Islands true to Narnian law once again.”

Lord Bern smiled gently as he nodded around the circle at each of them. He seemed a polite, humble sort, and Edmund found that he liked him already.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Lord Bern answered. “And now that the work is done and your friends have been saved, perhaps you could be persuaded to stay here for a day or two?”

“Oh, I do not know about that,” Caspian replies. He casted his eyes to Peter, who simply shrugged back at him. “We appreciate your offer, but the other six Lords—”

“Will still be wherever they are in a few days’ time,” said Lord Bern. “Stay and rest. If nothing else, surely your crew could use the time to rest and resupply your ship?”

“He’s right,” Edmund cut in. Caspian turned to look at him.

“We don’t know what lies beyond the Lone Islands,” Edmund pointed out. “It would be wise to stay here and take the opportunity to resupply ourselves. Besides, a few days for the crew to rest will be good for morale.”

Peter broke into a wide smile as he watched Edmund, and Caspian did the same with a nod.

“Yes,” he agreed, “it is as you say. I am wonderfully lucky to have your counsel once again, King Edmund.”

Edmund couldn’t help smiling at that. He puffed up with pleasure as he followed Caspian, Lord Bern, and the rest of their group into Narrowhaven.

* * *

 

They spent the next two days alternating between relaxing, working on the ship, and rooting through the streets of Narrowhaven to snuff out the remnants of the slavers’ ring. To cover more ground in less time, they split up into several smaller parties—Peter, Caspian, Edmund, and Lucy each captained their own small group, while Eustace was assigned to Reepicheep’s group. The Mouse, it seemed, had taken a liking to Eustace, though Edmund certainly couldn’t guess why.

Edmund was thankful that they didn’t find much resistance—most of the slavers had already gotten wise and disappeared. But there were some dens left undiscovered, and these he quickly raided upon, ousting or killing the slavers and freeing their captured slaves all in the space of a few breaths.

It’s on one such raid that Edmund found an unusual-looking faun among the freed slaves.

Not unusual _because_ he was a faun, of course—fauns were downright mundane to Edmund by now. But he’d never seen one so slight and narrow, and the dappled spots across his shoulders and flanks suggested “deer” more than they did “goat.” Indeed, he even had antlers on his head in place of the usual horns. Edmund wondered if all fauns on the Lone Islands looked like this; he had never made it out to the Islands during his time in the Golden Age, and during the War of Deliverance, there had been no time for tourism.

Edmund led his soldiers and the group of freed slaves back to the castle to be fed, cleaned, and given quarter until they were ready to head back out into the world. As the former slaves filed into the castle, many of them stopped to thank him for saving them. Edmund patiently stood there at the door, shaking hands and smiling at all of them.

When the little antlered faun reached Edmund, Edmund noticed that there was a light dusting of freckles across his nose, matching the spots on his fur. Coupled with his soft dark hair and softer, darker eyes, the overall effect was—

Edmund was pulled out of his thoughts when the faun spoke.

“Thank you for saving us,” he murmured, and his voice sounded every bit as soft as the rest of him looked. “I was sure they were going to kill us all before anyone could find us.”

“You’re welcome,” Edmund answered. He smiled at the faun, and this time, it wasn’t just because he was expected to. “I’m just glad you’re all okay.”

The faun returned his smile, though there was something cautionary and shy in it.

“Yes,” he said, “me too.”

Edmund was the one to stick out his hand this time.

“Tell me,” Edmund asked as they shook hands, “what is your name?”

The faun’s smile widened at that.

“My name is Odoko,” he answered. “And what is yours?”

Edmund had never heard that question from anyone in Narnia before. Everyone had always known who he was—first for his betrayal, then for his throne, then for reappearing after a thousand years’ absence to help young Prince Caspian win a war. He was almost surprised by the question, but then he realized: if the Lone Islands had forgotten that it was wrong to sell slaves in Narnia, it wasn’t very likely that they would remember the Golden Age, either.

Edmund decided that it was very refreshing to meet a Narnian who didn’t recognize him.

“My name is Edmund,” he answered. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Odoko.”

* * *

 

Caspian announced at dinner that night that the repairs on the _Treader_ were complete, and that they would be ready to resume their voyage in the morning. Lord Bern and the freed slaves were sad to hear it, but Edmund was somewhat relieved—he had been starting to get stir-crazy in Narrowhaven. He wanted to see more of Narnia before Aslan inevitably exiled him and Lucy to England again.

In the morning, their party was surprised—though perhaps they shouldn’t have been—to find many of the freed slaves waiting at the docks for them, hoping to join the _Dawn Treader’s_ crew. Sailing came naturally to the people of the Lone Islands, and while Drinian and Caspian regrettably admitted they didn’t have room for everyone, they did end up bringing along a few particularly strong and promising candidates.

As the _Treader_ heads out of the harbor and into open waters, everyone dispersed across the ship to their various posts. Caspian and Drinian headed down to the captain’s quarters to discuss their course, while Reepicheep appeared to be cajoling Eustace into a fencing lesson. Edmund couldn’t imagine why Reep was trying so hard—to hear everyone in Reepicheep’s group tell it, Eustace had been a hindrance during the Narrowhaven raids, not a help. Even now, the boy just sulked as Reep pointed his sword at him, trying to get him to lift his kitchen knife in defense.

After a moment spent watching their would-be sparring match, Edmund turned to survey the rest of the ship. It was quietly busy in the way he imagined most ships were. They had a good heading at the moment, so there wasn’t a great deal of work to be done. Men and minotaurs milled about, occasionally checking the sails or adjusting the ropes, sharing jokes all the while-- apparently, their break in Narrowhaven had been good for morale after all.

Edmund turned his head and saw that Peter and Lucy were sitting next to each other in the stern of the ship, watching everyone else as they spoke. Edmund was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but he saw Lucy say something that made Peter laugh. Edmund smiled as he watched the two of them. He didn’t feel jealous, exactly, but he did feel a pang of wistfulness; it had never been a secret that Lucy was Peter’s favorite sibling. Still, Edmund knew that Peter would want to catch up with him later, too, so he didn’t feel the need to interrupt the two of them just yet.

Seeing how occupied everyone was, and seeing how the crew didn’t seem to need any help at the moment, Edmund turned to face the sea, leaning against the ship’s railing. He’d never sailed in Narnia before, and what a shame that was, he thought as he watched the waves. The bright Narnian sun made little jewels of the crests of the waves, and the salt air was incredibly bracing and refreshing.

So distracted was Edmund by the beauty of the picture that he didn’t notice the presence standing next to him until it cleared their throat. A little sheepish, Edmund turned his head—

And there was Odoko, mirroring his position leaning against the railing, watching him with that same small smile he’d worn the night before.

“Hullo, Edmund,” he said.

“Odoko!”

Surprised as Edmund was to see the faun again, it was a pleasant surprise, and he couldn’t hide his automatic smile.

“I didn’t know you came along.”

Odoko laughs and nodded.

“I’ve lived on the Lone Islands all my life,” he explained. “I couldn’t miss the chance to get out of there—and with mainlanders, too!”

“You’ve never met a mainlander?” Edmund asked, now watching Odoko with some curiosity. The Lone Islands must have been even lonelier than he thought.

“Never,” Odoko said. “The Islands have been left to their own devices for ages—until you all came along, at least. Speaking of—”

Odoko tilted his head, his long ears pricking up with curiosity.

“What brings you past the Islands, anyway? There’s nothing out here but open sea…”

Edmund smiled and shrugged.

“Well, that’s what we’re trying to settle. Caspian—he’s the King of Narnia—wants to see if there’s not something out here in all this ocean after all. And he’s searching for the seven Lords who were exiled to the sea by his uncle Miraz.”

Edmund believed his explanation was sufficient, so it came as yet another surprise to him when Odoko asked, “Who’s Miraz?”

He turned his head and looked at the faun.

“You don’t know who Miraz is?” Edmund asked, and he couldn’t help the tone of condescending disbelief in his voice. It shouldn’t be surprising, considering how little Odoko seemed to know about mainland Narnia, but—to not know _Miraz?_ Edmund still remembered seeing Miraz dislocate Peter’s arm like it was yesterday.

Odoko’s ears drooped as he lowered his eyes, and Edmund immediately felt guilty.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he said, instinctively reaching out to put a comforting hand on Odoko’s dappled shoulder.

“Miraz was the King of Narnia before Caspian, but he wasn’t supposed to be. Miraz murdered Caspian’s father and stole the throne—and he would have killed Caspian, too, only we showed up in time to help Caspian stop him.”

“Oh,” Odoko said. Then, “Who’s ‘we?’”

“Me, my brother, and my two sisters.” Edmund nodded towards Peter and Lucy, who were currently engrossed in a knife-throwing contest on the ship’s stern as a few crew members watched. Just like always, Lucy was winning. “That’s my older brother Peter and my younger sister Lucy.”

“Where’s your other sister?”

Edmund looked back to Odoko to find him watching Edmund with wide, interested eyes.

“She’s…”

How could Edmund explain England to Odoko without explaining everything else? The Golden Age, the fact that he was one of Narnia’s Kings of legend a thousand years ago… The fact that he betrayed Narnia and sided with the White Witch? The fact that Aslan had to die because of him?

Edmund simply said, “Susan is on the mainland right now.”

Odoko nodded, and Edmund’s shoulders fell as he relaxed. For now, at least, his secret was still safe.

“They didn’t teach us a great deal of mainland history when I was in school,” Odoko explained. “And I wasn’t exactly the best student, either…”

The old rhetorician in Edmund heard the unspoken question in Odoko’s statement.

“If you’d like,” Edmund said with a smile, “I can teach you more about it, when neither of us are busy.” With a small laugh, he added, “I know so much about Narnia’s history, I may as well have lived it myself.”

“Really?”

Odoko gave Edmund a broad bright smile, complete with perked ears. “I would love that!”

Edmund tried to ignore the sudden, bizarre shot of nervousness that jolted through his stomach as he felt Odoko’s smile hit him like a sunbeam.

“Yes,” Edmund said, “really. I’d love to.”

* * *

 

Their “history lessons” were never very formal. For the most part, they weren’t even really lessons as much as they were Edmund explaining the history of Narnia to Odoko as the two of them hoisted rigging or checked the stores for pests. He was always careful to tell Odoko as much as he could without revealing specifics—Odoko genuinely seemed to like him, and it had been so long since Edmund made a new friend. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Odoko away by telling him that he came from a different reality, or that he served under the White Witch, or that he was technically either fifteen, twenty-eight, or 1,300 years old, depending on how one chose to count his lifetime.

Fortunately, Odoko didn’t make the connection between the four Kings and Queens of Old and the three of them there on the ship. He was simply happy to learn the history, listening to Edmund’s every word with rapt attention and perked ears.

One night found them sitting together on the floor of Edmund and Eustace’s cabin, Edmund sitting across from Odoko with a piece of paper sat in the middle of them while Eustace watched from his bunk with begrudging interest. There was a crude map of Beruna drawn on the paper—Edmund had explained the battle against the White Witch that night. The night had grown late, though, as Edmund suddenly realized when he found himself stretching with a yawn.

“Oh, shall I go?” Odoko asked. He was already preparing himself to get up when Edmund hastily waved him off.

“You don’t have to,” he said. “I mean—aren’t you just sleeping in the barracks with everyone else?”

Odoko nodded, and Edmund’s mouth twisted as he thought.

“That must be crowded.”

Odoko nodded again.

“I’ll admit, it’s not ideal…”

Before he could think himself out of it, Edmund asked, “Would you like to stay here tonight?”

The look of quiet surprise on Odoko’s face is ruined by Eustace protesting from his bunk, “Aw, Edmund, this miserable cabin is so cramped already!”

“Stuff it, Eustace,” Edmund replied curtly. “If I have to share my room in Eng—” Edmund hurriedly cut himself off when he remembered Odoko was there. “—On the _mainland_ with your rotten insect collection, you can share your room with my friend for one night.”

Eustace grumbled to himself as he rolled over to face the cabin wall, but he didn’t protest anymore. As for Odoko, he just gave Edmund a shy smile.

“You’d really like me to stay here?”

“Sure,” Edmund said with a shrug. Suddenly, he felt the need to be very nonchalant, though he wasn’t sure why. “Don’t you ever have sleepovers with your friends?”

“A sleepover?!”

Edmund was caught off guard by the way Odoko’s eyes lit up at that. He even pranced in place for just a moment on his delicate hooves before he collected himself.

“Sorry,” he murmured, giving Edmund a sheepish little smile. “When I was a little faun, we all used to have sleepovers out in the woods. They were such fun…”

Odoko trailed off, still wearing a smile, and Edmund felt very glad that he chose Odoko to be his new friend. Odoko being so excited about the prospect of a sleepover made Edmund feel less embarrassed by the fact that he’d never had a friend spend the night with him before.

“Well, I can’t promise I’ll be as much fun as a whole pack of fauns,” Edmund joked, “but I’ll do my best.”

Odoko eagerly sat down on the floor again, next to Edmund this time, and Edmund noticed his fluffy tail wagging.

“Nonsense, Edmund,” Odoko said. “Anyone who tells stories as good as yours can’t possibly be boring.”

Edmund smiled shyly and ducked his head as he felt his face flush up. After taking a moment to try and recover, he looked back up at Odoko.

“Thanks, Odoko.” His smile spread into a grin then as he started, “If you like stories, I’ve got a really good one about Peter from a long time ago…”

Odoko nodded eagerly and leaned in closer to listen. Out of the corner of his eye, Edmund noticed Eustace slowly rolling over to look at him, too.

“So there was this time Peter and I were sparring under the watch of the Captain of the Guard, and I’ll admit, he was a handsome fellow. Anytime he would compliment Peter’s form or technique, poor Pete would get this big goofy grin on his face…”

* * *

 

They got in a few more of their history lessons and sleepovers before the storm hit. After that, there wasn’t much time for them to do anything except tend to the ship and wait things out.

They were all miserable, Edmund could tell—even Peter looked gloomy as of late. Ed and Lucy overheard Drinian talking to Caspian and Peter about rationing water and about the possibility that the _Treader_ might have to turn around. Caspian refused to hear it, though, even when Peter took Drinian’s side.

When Lucy wasn’t working or trying to cheer up the crew, she worried about Eustace, Edmund knew. The poor boy mostly just sat curled up in his bunk, fighting down his seasickness and writing in his journal. Even Reepicheep had been avoiding Eustace lately, and for once, nobody in the crew tried to make Eustace work.

Edmund was lying awake one night, trying to ignore the howling wind outside (how many days had it been? Weeks?) and fall asleep, when he heard Peter’s voice.

“Edmund?”

Edmund grumbled and sat up in bed to see Peter’s head poking through the open doorway of his cabin.

“What is it?” Edmund asked with a tired pout. “Don’t tell me we need to bail out the belowdecks again.”

“No, not yet,” Peter whispered back with a small smile. “Can I come in?”

Edmund hesitated for a moment before he nodded.

When Peter quietly entered the room, he was Edmund’s brother, not High King Peter—though, Edmund thought, maybe King-Consort Peter was the correct title now. He wished Peter would just tell them the truth already. Peter took a seat next to Edmund on his bunk, the way he did the first time they were children, and offered him a smile.

“How are you holding up in all this?” he asked, his voice low and gentle to avoid waking Eustace. Not that Peter needed worry, Edmund thought. Once he finally fell asleep, Eustace was nigh impossible to wake up again.

“I’m fine,” Edmund answered. He raised his chin a little in indignation, an old habit of his that he never quite stamped out. “We’ve been through worse than this before, you know.”

Peter lay back on the walls surrounding the bunk and stared at Edmund, his feet landing next to Edmund’s head. His smile faded.

“I didn’t mean the storm.”

Edmund rolled his eyes in the darkness. Leave it to Peter to decide that the middle of the night in a near-Biblical storm at sea was the perfect time to talk about their feelings.

Still, Edmund knew, Peter needed to feel like he was the protector, the guardian brother shielding his siblings from the cruelty of the world. So Edmund played along.

“What _did_ you mean, then?”

Peter huffed.

“Things back in England,” he murmured. “…Without me.”

“Oh.”

Edmund lay back as well, his feet resting next to Peter’s shoulders as he propped himself up on his pillow.

“Not bad,” Edmund started. His tone was terse, and he didn’t look at Peter. “I mean, we miss you, of course… But life goes on.”

This was really the last thing Edmund wanted to be thinking about, especially in the current circumstances. He was here in Narnia to enjoy being in Narnia, not to think about Peter’s room at home, dust gathering on every surface because nobody wanted to touch anything, the way their parents had wept and worried, the tired shadows under their eyes each morning, the closed-casket funeral because there had been no body to bury.

The way all three of them had cried—not because they thought Peter was dead, but because they knew he wasn’t and couldn’t tell anyone. Because their big brother who had always been there for them suddenly wasn’t anymore. And for what?

Peter’s wedding ring glinted in the darkness. Edmund glared at it with sudden hatred.

“Edmund,” Peter murmured, and that was enough to set him off.

“You left all three of us behind without even looking back,” Edmund hissed, sudden hot tears pricking his eyes. “Did Lucy tell you that we held your funeral a few months ago?”

Edmund couldn’t see Peter’s face in the low light, but he could hear his soft gasp.

“Edmund,” Peter murmured, and that was enough to set him off.

“You left all three of us behind without even looking back,” Edmund hissed, sudden hot tears pricking his eyes. “Did Lucy tell you that we held your funeral a few months ago?”

Edmund couldn’t see Peter’s face in the low light, but he could hear his soft gasp.

“That’s right,” Edmund went on. “We buried you on your birthday. On the hill, next to the plots that Mum and Dad had reserved for themselves.”

Peter was quiet, and Edmund smirked to himself, satisfied that he’d hurt Peter as much as Peter had hurt him. But then Peter leaned forward and across the bunk, closer to Edmund, and wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

“Edmund…”

As hard as he tried, Edmund just couldn’t manage to struggle out of Peter’s grasp. Through all his quiet protests and thrashing, Peter kept holding on, insistent but not rough. Finally, Edmund gave up. He collapsed against his brother’s chest and began to cry.

“You left us,” Edmund repeated brokenly. “You left me all alone… I had to listen to Mum and Dad weep over the death of their favorite son while I stood right next to them…”

“I’m sorry, Edmund.”

Edmund could tell from the sound of his voice and the shake of his shoulders that Peter was crying, too. Peter’s arms tightened around him, and one hand found Edmund’s hair to pet it.

“I know what I did was selfish and cruel to you,” he whispered. “To all of you. And I know you don’t understand why I did it—”

“I know why,” Edmund interrupted. He felt Peter go tense against him. “You love him.”

Peter deflated with a rattling sigh.

“Yes,” he said in a whisper. “Yes, I love him.”

As angry and jealous as Edmund was for Peter leaving them, he couldn’t be mad at that. Peter and Edmund had talked, in hushed tones back at home and openly in Narnia, about how difficult it would be for either of them to live freely and happily in England. The darkest part of Edmund knew that, had Aslan offered _him_ the chance to stay in Narnia while Peter and their sisters went back, he would have taken it without a second thought.

“We don’t blame you, you know,” Edmund mumbled then. “Sometimes I hate you for it, but we don’t blame you for staying. All of us would have.”

“Susan didn’t,” Peter pointed out, and Edmund just shrugs. Since Peter left, Susan had withdrawn further and further into herself. He and Lucy hadn’t even seen their sister in months—she was in America with their parents, and what she was doing there was anyone’s guess. Susan had always been something of a mystery to Edmund, but now she was like a complete stranger to him.

“Still.” Edmund gingerly raised his arms to return Peter’s hug. “We’re not mad at you. But… It’s hard.”

He sniffled.

“I miss my brother.”

Edmund’s tears burst forward again, and Peter held him, shushing him gently all the while.

“I know, Ed,” he murmured. “I miss you, too.”

For the first time since he was nine, Edmund cried himself to sleep in Peter’s arms.

* * *

 

When he awoke in the morning, Edmund found himself alone in his bunk, and the storm had miraculously vanished.

Peter greeted him above deck with his usual wide, sunny smile. His blue eyes were as soft and warm as the mollified waves licking the boat, no hint of his conversation with Edmund the night before anywhere in his face. Caspian stood next to Peter, one arm wrapped around his waist as he politely nodded at Edmund in greeting. Edmund took a moment to rub the fatigue out of his eyes before smiling at them both.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Peter joked. “Nice of you to join us.”

Edmund opened his mouth to retort, but before he could get a word out, there came the sound of Lucy and Reepicheep shouting from the bow of the ship.

“Land ho!”

The wave of excitement and relief that washed over the crew was palpable. Even Edmund wasn’t immune to it; he couldn’t help smiling at the other crew members around him. And when he noticed Peter pulling Caspian in to steal a quick kiss from the corner of his eye, he felt only happiness for his brother.

It didn’t do to dwell on things one couldn’t change.

* * *

 

The island they found was unpopulated, but it was lush and green, full of springs and good hunting. While Drinian and his men began the massive job of repairing the ship, Peter and Caspian took it upon themselves to gather supplies. Before they go, they assign Edmund to head up a hunting party. He was to be seconded by Lucy and Odoko—the former by force of habit, the latter because he had insisted on coming along on the grounds that he was a good tracker and handy with a bow.

Edmund was pleased for the chance to stretch his legs and explore the island, and even more pleased to discover that Odoko hadn’t been lying. He was certainly no Susan, but Odoko’s arrows found their marks more often than not, almost as often as Lucy’s throwing knives. Between his sister and the faun, Edmund found he rarely had a chance to even load his crossbow before his target falls to the ground.

When the sun began to set, they hefted all of their quarry back to camp so it could be prepared for storage on the ship. The rest of the crew were there already, and the cook was quick to claim one particularly large boar for dinner that night.

They all killed time swapping stories and jokes, and Reepicheep even convinced Eustace to spar with him in front of everyone. Eustace’s moves were still sloppy, but Edmund was surprised to see some real form and skill there, lying beneath all of Eustace’s protests that he didn’t want to be playing swords with a two-foot talking Mouse.

“There really must be something in the air here,” Edmund slyly whispered to Lucy, “if it’s enough to make even _Eustace_ a decent fighter.”

Lucy snickered and elbowed Edmund in the ribs.

* * *

 

After dinner, the rest of the crew returned to the ship, but Peter insisted on sleeping on the island beneath the stars—and, more importantly, on solid ground. Caspian teased him for still not having his sea legs, but that night still found the lot of them lounging in a little circle around their campfire.

Peter and Caspian were snuggled up next to each other, sharing a fur as Peter described their wedding in detail to Lucy; after his conversation with Edmund, it seemed Peter had finally decided to be honest about his relationship with Caspian. Lucy was angry at first—not because Peter and Caspian were together, but because Peter had had the _nerve_ to get married when Lucy wasn’t there to be his flower girl. Lucy listened to Peter with rapt attention, and when Peter’s recollection wasn’t quite detailed enough, Caspian gently cut in to add the proper embellishments.

As for Eustace, he was lying on his side, facing away from the campfire and ardently trying to pretend he was asleep. Edmund bit his lip to keep from laughing—he knew Eustace was just trying to ignore Peter and Caspian. And in his defense, Edmund thought, it really must have been a shock to discover that the cousin he thought to be dead was not only alive, but queer, and married to the king of an entire magical kingdom to boot. It was almost enough to make Edmund sympathetic to Eustace.

Almost, but not quite.

Edmund continued looking round the fire and saw that Reepicheep was asleep too—though he was _actually_ asleep, and not just pretending like Eustace. Edmund watched Reep’s rapid little mousey heartbeat as he snored, curled up in a ball not far from Eustace.

That only left Odoko. Edmund had expected him to head back to the ship with the rest of the crew, but he was privately very pleased when Odoko had insisted on staying ashore with them. The faun was still awake, watching the stars with wide eyes, ears occasionally flicking this way and that to survey their surroundings.

“What’s on your mind?” Edmund asked, scooting closer to Odoko. It took Odoko a second before he looked back down at Edmund, the firelight flickering in his dark eyes.

“Just looking at the stars,” Odoko murmured with a smile. When he cast his gaze back upwards, Edmund joined him. He found that the stars here were completely alien—when he was King, he had spent quite a bit of time plotting the constellations alongside Lucy and the centaurs. But out here, he didn’t recognize anything.

A moment later, Edmund heard Lucy ask, “Do you know any of these stars, Odoko?”

“Yes,” Odoko answered. He raised one arm to point upwards, to a small cluster of stars that didn’t look like anything to Edmund.

“That group there is the Naiad,” he said. “See it? Those dim stars there make its tail, and there’s the head…”

The longer Edmund stared up at the stars, the more he thought he could make out Odoko’s Naiad.

“I see it!” Lucy exclaimed. Edmund smiled to himself—he could hear the excited grin on her face from all the way across the campfire.

“That one over there is the Fox,” Odoko said then, pointing to another cluster of stars. “He’s hiding, see? He’s curled up with his face in his tail…”

Edmund had a little more trouble picking that one out, but he thought he could see it after some staring and squinting. Lucy was much quicker on the uptake, though, and no sooner had Edmund finally found the Fox than Odoko moved on.

“This next one is easy,” Odoko said with a laugh. He pointed to a group of stars far out on the horizon, clustered around a single bright blue star.

“That’s Aslan’s Eye.”

Edmund and Lucy were both quiet as they stared at it, taking it in. Edmund wondered how he hadn’t noticed the blue star before—it stood out stark in the night sky, making the other stars look dull in comparison.

After a moment, Lucy murmured, “I used to know all the stars back in Narnia, but we don’t have any of these.”

“No?” Odoko asked.

The three of them returned their gaze to the campfire, and Odoko stretched out on his fur next to Edmund’s, staring over at Lucy.

“What stars do you have on the mainland, then?” he asked with a gentle smile. Edmund watched him fondly as Lucy excitedly replied, “Oh, loads! There’s the Jaguar—he’s my favorite—and the Wheel… The Ship used to be Edmund’s favorite, but I think it’s boring…”

Lucy kept going for quite some time, as she always did when she got started talking on something she liked. But Odoko patiently listened to her the entire time, his ears perked and his eyes warm.

Eventually, Lucy talked herself all the way to sleep, still curled up next to Peter and Caspian. Caspian had long since dozed off, but Peter was still hanging on just enough to wrap his arm protectively around his sister before finally falling asleep, too.

Reepicheep was still snoring as well, and Edmund glanced at Eustace to find that his fake sleep had at some point given way to the real thing. He and Odoko were the only ones left awake.

“You should sleep,” Odoko murmured, nudging Edmund’s shoulder with his own. “We have no idea what tomorrow might bring, after all.”

Edmund just nudged Odoko’s shoulder in return and smiled at him.

“Then shouldn’t you be getting some sleep, too?”

To his slight confusion, though, Odoko shook his head. When Edmund pouted at him, Odoko explained, “Someone has to keep watch.”

“Well…”

Edmund sighed. Odoko was right, of course—how had Edmund forgotten that?

“Okay,” Edmund agreed, though he didn’t sound terribly enthusiastic about it. “But if you get tired, wake me up, okay? And I’ll take over for you.”

Odoko nodded at Edmund and smiled at him.

“I will,” he promised. “Get some sleep, Edmund.”

And not long after getting settled beneath his fur, Edmund did.

Edmund’s watch never came—when he awoke in the morning, Odoko lay dozed off on the sand, Lucy was missing, and Edmund and Caspian immediately had to talk Peter out of burning down the island then and there.

In all the confusion, Edmund didn’t have time to notice that he woke up cuddling Odoko.

**Author's Note:**

> THIS WORK HAS BEEN EDITED 1/5/2019: I moved the narrative into past tense and did some other small, basic touch-ups to it here and there, mostly to improve intra-scene continuity. This is all done in preparation for a more thorough and comprehensive revision/rewrite of this piece which will come later on, when I have the time and energy that I wish to spend on it. In the meantime, please let me know if you'd like me to archive the original version (that is, this one, tense change and all) as its own work! Otherwise, I'm planning to replace it completely with the revised version once the revision is done.


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